A review of previous studies shows that insomnia may not increase your risk of dying, but other sleep experts disagree with the findings.
The last thing people with insomnia need is something else to think about while worrying if sleep will come tonight.
If this describes you, you might want to read this earlier in the day.
A new study published in Sleep Medicine Reviews suggests that insomnia doesn’t increase your risk of dying. But some sleep experts disagree with the findings.
Researchers pooled data from 17 previous studies, in a meta-analysis. Together, the studies covered almost 37 million people — about 10 percent of them had insomnia.
The studies followed people between 2.2 and 28 years, with an average follow-up of 11.6 years.
Researchers found that the risk of dying during the study period was similar for people with and without symptoms of insomnia.
One study, though, accounted for 96 percent of the data. When researchers excluded this study, the mortality risk was slightly higher for people with insomnia.
The results were similar even when researchers took into account other factors such as alcohol use, smoking, obesity, and sleep medications.